


Restore Me

by MayQueen517



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe
Genre: Multi, Polyamory, brief mentions of polyamory negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-15
Updated: 2012-10-15
Packaged: 2017-11-16 08:37:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/537558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayQueen517/pseuds/MayQueen517
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce is used to caution. It is a large part of who he has had to become since the accident. And yet, when Pepper's lips brush his, he finds himself sucking in a sharp breath, waiting. He waits and waits until he feels Tony's hand tangle with his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Restore Me

**Author's Note:**

> A friend of mine prompted me with fic about Bruce set to Young The Giant's "Cough Syrup," which I immediately latched onto. I wasn't sure what I'd end up writing, but I'm pretty pleased with it!
> 
> I place this as happening maybe a month or so after the events of The Avengers.

Coming back from being the Other Guy is like surfacing for air while swimming. It is a remembered sensation of darkness and pressure, like being pushed deep into murky waters. It's waking up on his back without any clothes and the sense of dread. It is waking up alone and wondering if there was any more blood on his hands this time around.

He runs from it. He runs from those feelings and he helps. He helps people he would otherwise destroy with the slip of tightly held control. He works on it. He works on his control like he would any other experiment. He finds out what works and what doesn't and in the end, Bruce doesn't have to find himself underwater again.

And then Manhattan happens.

Manhattan happens and instead of the blood on his hands, he thinks of the life that had been in his hands. 

Bruce watches the video over and over again, watching the Other Guy catch Tony in midair, hitting a car and roaring at his face. He watches the way the Other Guy paces in short, abrupt movements that broadcast something like worry. He watches Tony wake up with a start and something in his chest tightens. 

Bruce doesn't know what to make of them; of any of them, really. Natasha is coiled and primed, ready without appearing ready. She is as tightly controlled as he has to be. She controls herself with remarkable grace and he finds himself envious of it.

Clint, on the other hand, gives the illusion of the greatest unconcerned attitude that Bruce has ever seen. He acts lazy and it's only the sharp, keen observance in his eyes that makes Bruce always aware of him. He watches everything and more; keeping track of all of them, busying himself with other things. He watches intently but never gives anything away. Bruce likes that about him; likes the casualness of it.

Steve and Thor are different. They are the people who you have to see to believe. Bruce doesn't believe them sometimes; not the way that Steve is still quietly walking around and the way that Thor throws himself whole-heartedly into learning everything he can. Thor opens himself to everything with sheer abandon, whereas Steve opens himself cautiously.

Tony invades his space, just like Tony invades everything. He makes his presence known and then doesn't give you time to fight against it. He watches Pepper give Tony this smile that's part fondness and part annoyance and he laughs to himself just once. 

Tony is everything Bruce can’t figure out even as he learns more and more about Tony Stark. He knows that there are different personas and different personalities for each and every part of Tony’s life. He knows, from Pepper, that things were far different before Afghanistan, and that Tony is twice as affectionate as he ever was. Bruce watches him lean into every offered piece of it and it should be frightening, the way that Tony always comes back to Bruce for a simple touch of the shoulder. Instead, it makes Bruce feel like he always has in the lab – serene and competent.

Bruce finds himself thinking about Pepper and Tony more than he strictly should, but he figures that given their proposal from a week ago, that it’s not all that uncalled for. Bruce thinks of the nervous twist of Pepper’s mouth and the projected ease in Tony’s entire posture. Most of all, Bruce thinks about the cautious hope they’d all allowed themselves to feel when Bruce had asked for a few days to think it over.

He thinks about it through the week; through experiments and meetings and more meetings and finally, after his morning meditation. Early morning finds him out on a balcony with Steve, sipping tea and coffee with practiced ease.

"You ever think about how things would have turned out differently if you had done something else?" Steve asks him, both facing the early warmth of the sun. Bruce enjoys the warmth on his face, tempered by the cool morning breeze. It's one thing that Bruce never would have expected to have in common with Steve. Granted, Bruce never would have thought he'd be enjoying the morning sun with Steve Rogers, but he figures there can be some expansion of certain parameters.

"Which time are you referring to, Cap?" Bruce asks with a raised eyebrow that Steve flashes him a quick grin over. 

"Whenever," Steve says, hands curled around a cup of coffee. Bruce shrugs carefully.

"I always wish things would have gone differently. I always will; but the difference is that I've come to realize that I can't change it. And things are," Bruce pauses, seeing Steve watch him carefully, waiting for his answer, "good. Things are good right now."

Bruce sees Steve nod slowly; finishing his mug of coffee a moment later before Bruce watches him stand.

"Thank you, Dr. Banner," he says formally as he offers his hand. Bruce feels an amused grin cross over his face as he shakes Steve's hand.

"Bruce."

"Bruce," Steve says, smiling suddenly and it takes him from a weary superhero to another guy that Bruce shares a tower with. It makes Bruce smile into his cup of tea as Steve walks in.

 

He wakes up from his latest trip as the Other Guy with an aching hunger blinking from the recesses of his mind. He wakes with a gasp and a jolt, staring at the dim lighting in the room. He blinks blearily, fumbling on the side table for the lamp switch. There's a body beside him and he wonders at who it might be. In the days after the battle for Manhattan, they all got used to finding a room that wasn't terribly demolished and sleeping off the day's exhaustion. 

Clumsy with sleep and exhaustion, Bruce keeps hitting at the table, trying to find a lamp that isn't there when he hears a low chuckle from his right.

"Sorry, that's one light you can't turn off," Tony says with fond amusement and it takes Bruce a moment to register who's room he's in. He sits up, sheets sliding down his torso and he tries to focus on Tony.

"Jarvis, lights at five percent so we don't blind the good doctor," Tony says, propped against the headboard of the bed. The lights slide on to a dim setting that eases Bruce's mind as he can see Tony. The glowing circle of the arc reactor is shining through a ratty tank top with a hole cut through for it. It makes Bruce blink as he looks around.

"Tried waking you up after you de-Hulked. No dice. So I just had Thor carry you up here," Tony says, putting a tablet down; it's letting off low lights but Bruce can make out the shapes of graphs and readings on it.

"How long?" Bruce rasps out as Tony shrugs.

"Coupla hours," Tony says, stretching. Bruce keeps looking at the arc reactor, the soft, blue light shining from the shirt. If he looks long enough, Bruce swears he can see the light expanding and contracting; even though he knows it's a trick of his mind, it's comforting.

"Starving," Bruce manages, sliding out of the bed to follow Tony. Tony pulls pizza out of the fridge, cold and exactly like Bruce likes it. It's nothing that Bruce thinks about; for all that people assume Tony is thoughtless, Bruce knows that it's the opposite. Tony thinks too much about everything. And it's only when Bruce has plowed through his fifth piece of pizza that he sees Tony talking to Pepper.

"Welcome back to the living," Tony says, grinning as Bruce ducks his head. He swallows hard, feeling the aching scream at the back of his head settle to a low rumble. Pepper comes over giving him a brush of her lips against his cheek. It makes him blink and when she pulls back, both she and Tony are looking at him with a quiet hope in their eyes.

"So we're doing this now," Bruce says, watching something shine in Pepper's eyes. This has all been Pepper's idea, all of it orchestrated by her as though she's given thought to it. And Bruce knows she has. He knows that she has thought it through and given the way that Tony's got his arm casually wrapped around her, he knows that this is one of those do-or-die moments.

"It seems appropriate," Pepper says, leaning her head into the crook of Tony's neck. Bruce looks down at the unfinished pizza and he thinks about his conversation with Steve earlier in the week. He looks over at them, watching the wary hope in Tony's eyes and he sighs softly; fondly, this time.

"Things are good now," he says finally, "I don't want to...If things aren't good, then we have to talk about it. We have to," Bruce says as Pepper nods and Tony starts to grin. Bruce feels something like cautious hope echoing through his chest.

"We'll let you know," Pepper says, pulling Tony after her as she steps over to Bruce. She is behind the whole thing, suggesting it after the fourth time she'd found Bruce crashed out in the bed beside Tony. Bruce knows about it, and they've had the conversations. But there's always caution in everything he does.

Bruce is used to caution. It is a large part of who he has had to become since the accident. And yet, when Pepper's lips brush his, he finds himself sucking in a sharp breath, waiting. He waits and waits until he feels Tony's hand tangle with his own.

Pepper kisses him without caution though. She kisses him fiercely and he finds himself squeezing Tony's hand, kissing back. Tony laughs softly and then there's the bristle of his goatee and chapped lips. Bruce pulls them both closer, feeling warmth spreading across his body; affection and arousal tuned into everything he's been feeling since Manhattan. It builds slowly but fiercely, and when they pull him upstairs, Bruce goes willingly with hope blurring into contentment.


End file.
